


Into The Unknown

by Tizzie (Aaelyn)



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Demons, Gen, Hearing Voices, Hurt/Comfort, Secrets, Truth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21811060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaelyn/pseuds/Tizzie
Summary: Shortly after the twins fifteenth birthday, Rin begins hearing a voice. He soon realises this voice is trying to tell him something about himself and decides to listen. Uncovering some truths in the process. Inspired by the Frozen 2 song - No singing/lyrics.
Comments: 81
Kudos: 243





	1. The Voice

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Frozen 2 song - not a song fic! This is basically what happens when I listen to something so much it makes me think of random things!

Simply put, Rin was hearing things.

It started shortly after the twins fifteenth birthday. Rin was ‘attempting’ to finish homework he had been assigned for the holidays before going back to school, but some pesky manga was in the way and distracting him again so the math had inevitably been forgotten. He would ask Yukio for help later.

He’d been sat in silence reading the manga when he first heard the noise. He looked up and around the room, he was alone and nothing had moved or fallen. He ignored it and carried on before he heard it again, this time he jumped, it almost sounded like someone whispering. He scratched his head looking at the time, it was late, he was probably just tired.

Yukio was out at some club with the old man again so Rin was left at home with the other priests. Most of the Monastery was silent, everyone else had gone to bed it seemed. Rin found it strange that a club could go on so late sometimes, but didn’t really question it. He did sometimes wonder what sort of club it was that Father Fujimoto had to go as well though.

Rin closed his homework and the manga; he would try again tomorrow. Hopefully with Yukio’s brains to help him. After brushing his teeth, he climbed into bed, draping the sheets over him, it wasn’t long before he was in a deep slumber.

He wasn’t sure what time it was when he jolted awake but was sure someone was speaking to him, he sat up and lazily looked around the room, a desk lamp was on and Yukio was taking off a jacket as he slid a locked box under his bed with his foot. Had Yukio spoken to him? He looked at the time…it was 2 am!

Yukio turned and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Rin sat up half asleep looking at him.

“Nii-San?! What are you doing awake?”

“Mm? Heard you talkin’, woke me up…did you just get home?” Yukio was sure he

could hear the cogs turning in Rin’s head, he’d always managed to get back from a mission unnoticed before.

“I just had some stuff to do before bed. Go back to sleep Nii-san.” Rin didn’t argue and grumbled something as he rolled himself back into the sheets, soon taking deep breaths as his sleep deepened. Yukio let out a breath he’d been holding on to, that was close. Did Rin say he thought he’d been talking? Yukio hadn’t said a word since reaching the room. He didn’t dwell on it further as his exhaustion was catching up with him, getting into bed himself.

Yukio took his glasses off, putting them on the table beside his bed. Getting comfortable nearly burying himself in the sheets as the warmth enveloped him. He was about the close his eyes when the blurry silhouette of Rin sat up again, looking around before laying down and putting a pillow over his head. Yukio was sure he heard him mutter a ‘shut up’ at the same time.

When Yukio awoke, Rin had already left his bed much to his surprise. He got up and left the room, heading towards the kitchen where the luring scent of breakfast met his nose. On entering the kitchen, he found Rin readily cooking, completely oblivious the Yukio having entered the room. He had been about to say hello when Rin froze to the spot looking out the window.

“Nii-San?” Rin snapped out of his stupor and looked at Yukio.

“Oh Yukio, it’s you! Want some breakfast?”

Yukio nodded, giving Rin a curious eye.

“Are you okay? You seem a bit out of it.”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Couldn’t sleep, that’s all.” Rin gave a nervous laugh, he stiffened briefly before shaking his head and continuing with breakfast.

“Are you sure?”

Rin hesitated before opening his mouth to answer but was interrupted by the arrival some of the priests having been lured in by the smell of food. Soon enough everyone was gathered at the table for breakfast. Although Rin just sat picking at his food whilst looking out the window.

Rin was sure the voice had gotten louder over the duration of the day. He was pretty sure now this voice was in his head, as no one else seemed to be hearing it. What he hadn’t figured out was why he could hear it and what the hell it wanted. He had a feeling it wanted help, but how was Rin supposed to help a voice in his head. So, he chose to keep ignoring it. Maybe it would stop if he just pretended it wasn’t there anymore.

But ignoring it proved more difficult as time went on. Even more so when they had returned to school. Rin had trouble concentrating in classes as it was but the voice had just gotten louder and more frequent. Today was more troublesome than usual, his head was pounding and the voice was more persistent than ever, his head was face down on his desk; hands scratching through his hair. The students were giving him strange looks; well stranger than usual. Before the teacher finally took note and called his name.

He couldn’t hear her voice over the voice in his head, so she marched over to his desk slammed a book down and shouted his name.

“Mr Okumura!”

Rin snapped, snarling at her.

“SHUT UP!”

Punching his fist into the desk, it broke in half. The teacher backed away in fear. The rest of the class flinched and edged away before the hushed whispers of his classmates broke through the voice in his head and Rin looked around taking in his surroundings. He ran out of the room without another word. Yukio darted after him.

Rin ended up running out of the school’s front doors a few teachers yelling after him, but he was too fast for them to catch, Yukio followed but the teachers had been alerted enough to stop him from going any further.

“Somethings wrong! I need to go after him!”

“Mr Okumura, please return to your class. We will contact your guardian in this matter.”

Yukio gave a frustrated grunt but begrudgingly walked back to class, where the rest of his classmates gave him a fearful look on his return. He ignored them to return to his desk trying to block out the whispers about how much of a demon his brother was.

* * *

Rin ran as fast as he could, he felt like he was trying to outrun the voice in his head as well as the sight of his school but he had no idea where he was running to. He eventually found himself at the park near the Monastery, it was quiet thankfully still being within school hours. He flopped into a nearby swing letting his feet drag across the dirt as he swayed back and forth. The voice still singing some sort of siren song within its mutterings and whispers, anything to get him to listen and follow it. He stared up at the sky, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. The voice sang and he could see a flickering blue in his mind, he felt an overwhelming warmth from it.

When he opened his eyes and looked ahead, a flicker of blue light appeared from within the trees. It disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Rin stood and walked towards where he had seen the light, as he approached the entrance to the trees another blue light appeared a little ways further in, the voice singing with every appearance the further in he went. When he got to a clearing the blue light was in the middle, flickering like a flame. It disappeared as Rin approached it.

Rin waited a while but the light did not reappear, had he been seeing things? The voice had been quiet as well. He made his way back to the Monastery; school was still in session but the old man knew by now he’d left anyway. He let himself in but the place was empty apart from the older man Misumi pottering around cleaning between the pews. He was about to ask what Rin was doing home, but Rin just gave him a look that he wasn’t in the mood. He began to walk towards his and Yukio’s room when the voice suddenly sang when he walked by his father’s room. He froze, feeling instantly compelled to go in.

He knew he probably shouldn’t go in without his father here, he walked away and the voice sounded again – louder this time. He bit his bottom lip and went back slowly opening the door hoping it didn’t creak and alert Misumi to his snooping around. When he entered, he wasn’t sure what was so special, it looked the same as it always did the many times he’d been in here before.

He moved around the room and the voice sounded as he walked past a large red ornate chest of drawers, it looked out of place compared to the rest of the furnishings. He studied it further, locks on every drawer, so not a normal chest of drawers then – somewhere his father could lock stuff away. He tried every drawer out of curiosity but they were all locked. He sighed and gave up walking away towards the door, the voice sounded louder. He felt something this time, a feeling that came strongly with the voice. Whatever was calling to him was in this drawer.

He looked around for a key, checking around the furniture and within the drawers of the desk. He managed to find a key within his father’s bedside table and it worked, unlocking and opening each drawer. Mostly papers and strange books with weird symbols, if anything it looked like his father was in a cult. He laughed off the idea – disappointed that whatever was calling to him was not here. Opening the last drawer at the bottom he was shocked to find several guns that had been stowed away for safekeeping. Why did his dad have guns?! He quickly closed it again and locked the drawers back up, putting the key back in the drawer he’d found it.

He went to move out of the room again when the voice sang to him, he could definitely feel it. His arm moved of its own volition placing his hand on the cabinet; a spark of blue appearing as his fingertips touched the wooden surface. He was drawn out of his trance when Father Fujimoto entered the room after seeing the door ajar, Yukio following behind.

“Rin?”

He snapped up at them, with the look of a deer caught in headlights. Quickly moving his hand away from the cabinet of drawers. His eyes were suddenly drawn to a strange-looking key hanging from his father’s neck. The voice sang again.

“What are you doing in here?” Shiro said, pulling Rin out of his daydream.

“Oh, hey…um sorry I thought I heard a noise in here so I came to check what it was.” He quickly ducked his head and made a break for the exit, gently pushing past his father and Yukio in the process running down the hall to his room.

Shiro and Yukio gave each other worried looks. He gave Yukio a pat on the shoulder and went to talk to his oldest son. Standing outside the twin’s room he knocked on the door hearing Rin grunt from the other side he entered, seeing Rin on his bed with a manga in hand. Swiping the manga from his grasp he pulled a chair up to sit next to the bed. Rin gasped as he lost the manga he was reading and pouted at his father.

“So…”

“What do you want old man?” He laid there; arms crossed, staring at the wall next to his bed.

“What happened at school today? Teachers said you snapped and broke a desk and then ran out leaving the school grounds.”

Rin didn’t answer, finding that glaring at the wall was much more interesting.

“Rin…” there was a threat in his voice, causing Rin to look at him before he regretted it.

“It was an accident…my head was hurting and it was just too noisy, she just came out of nowhere and slammed a book in front of me, I lost it for a second. I didn’t hurt **anyone** …just the desk.” He felt the need to get in that last part before he was blamed for beating someone senseless again. “I left school and just went to the park; it was quieter there.”

Shiro’s expression softened slightly “Yukio says you’ve been having trouble sleeping, and you’ve been spacing out a lot lately.” Rin frowned at his father.

“ _Damn Four-eyes._ ” He’d muttered under his breath; Shiro still caught it raising an eyebrow “It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

Shiro nodded and soon moved to leave.

“Well anyway, you’ve been suspended from school for the rest of the week. The teacher felt threatened, so you will have to apologize.” Rin had been about to protest but Shiro put a hand up to stop him “I will call you for dinner. Try and rest, Rin. Lack of sleep isn’t good for you.”

Rin nodded, snatching the manga back off Shiro as he walked towards the door.

“Did you find what made the noise in my room?” He eyed Rin suspiciously for a moment, Rin didn’t notice to engrossed in the manga and trying to blot out the voice from his mind.

“No, must’ve just been hearing things.” It wasn’t a lie; he had heard _something_. But he felt his father might get a bit too worried about him if he admits he’s been hearing a voice for a few weeks now. His mind drifted back towards the key, glancing at it briefly before Father Fujimoto left the room. The voice in his head sang again.

Frustrated, Rin shook his head running his hand through his hair as he did so. If it wasn’t weird enough that he’d been hearing the voice to begin with, then there was that blue light in the park. Now he’d uncovered something his Father was hiding; he was a priest, a councillor what the hell did he need guns for?! He was sure there was more, the voice was leading him to something and it had something to do with that key around his father’s neck.

“Aaugh! This is insane. The old man doesn’t have some secret life…” Or did he? He was always out on business when not running the church, staying out late with Yukio at random clubs. “Wait…” Rin jumped off his bed, giving a quick listen down the hall for any sign of someone approaching before diving to the floor by Yukio’s bed. He rummaged underneath for a few moments moving a few things out of the way before he found the locked box and pulled it out. He gave it a small shake, something solid and quite heavy was inside, but where would Yukio have put the key. He was about to look when the sound of approaching footsteps stopped him, quickly shoving the box back under the bed and moving things in front again. He jumped back to his own bed, grabbing the manga in the process as Yukio came through the door.

“Nii-san I brought your homework from school.” He said as he put a large stack of paper on the desk. Rin groaned.

“You can’t let me enjoy my suspension, can you?” He glanced up from his manga.

“Not when this is our final term, you need to think about what you’re going to do after school ends.” Yukio looked at him pitifully but sighed when Rin was staring off into space again. “Nii-san?”

“Huh?”

Yukio shook his head “You’re hopeless.” He sat down at his desk to do his own work.

Rin sat with his face in his manga, quietly listening to the voice singing in his head. He’d hoped he could ignore it but that seemed to be downright impossible. If anything, the more he ignored it the louder and more intrusive it got. But he had a feeling if he followed it, it would take him away from everything he knew now.

* * *

When he awoke the next day, he realised he was alone; Yukio was gone. It was silent in the Monastery. He stretched as he sat up, taking in the bright sunlight coming through the window. He got up and left the room, moving towards the kitchen. The first thing he noticed was a note on the fridge. Yukio had gone to school, the old man a few of the priests had gone to do some church business, the others were out for groceries. He was left alone? The note also said Rin wasn’t to leave the grounds…well, he’d soon see about that. He opened the fridge to find some leftover breakfast, quickly shovelling it down before going back to his room.

He got dressed quickly with every intention to defy his father and leave the church. But the black space under Yukio’s bed caught his eye again. Yukio was at school, and he was alone in the Monastery for a while. Really it was none of his business what was in the box, but after finding what Father Fujimoto was hiding away and knowing they had been going to some special club most days after school he was growing suspicious. He rummaged around Yukio’s drawers beside his bed and in his desk until he found a tiny silver key that had been hidden beneath some old school books. Pulling out the box from under the bed, he successfully inserted the key and turned. He was going to feel stupid and guilty when he found nothing, this was Yukio of all people his brother. He closed his eyes and took a breath as he opened the box, squinting he slowly opened his eyes.

He inhaled sharply at what he found. Touching the cold metal surface of the two handguns, he jumped when the voice sang again. He heard a door slam shut from within the monastery and quickly shut and locked the box back away, chucking the key back into the drawer. His breathing sped up as he tried to take in what he’d found. Both his brother and father had been hiding guns in their home. He heard one of the priests calling his name. He answered back so they knew he was still here, then when he was sure they’d leave him alone for a while he opened his window. He climbed out carefully before jumping down to the ground below with a thud.

He turned and had to blink quite a few times as he was pretty sure he was seeing spots. Black floating, ping-pong ball-sized spots… he rubbed his eyes, they were still there. He had a closer look to see they had eyes, big green bulging eyes. He poked one with his finger, flinching back when it squeaked and stared back at him for a few moments before wriggling and floating away again. He cautiously made his way to the gates the black things were mostly ignoring him, he had to swat a few out of his way but they weren’t trying to bother him at least. He ran towards the park feeling the voice pulling him in that direction again.

When he arrived again it was almost empty, most children being at school. There were only a few mothers with their little ones playing in the sandpit. They glared at him briefly, thinking that he might cause trouble, but he just ignored them and made his way to the overgrowth of trees and shrubbery that he’d seen the blue light before.

He approached the clearing and the blue light appeared before him, the voice singing again. He knelt in front of it, on closer inspection it looked just like a blue flame. For some reason it felt familiar, holding his hand out to touch it he realised it didn’t burn but was warm. Suddenly there was a rustling in one of the bushes, he withdrew his hand from the flame and scooted away from the noise. Did the priests find him missing already and come to find him?

No. What emerged from the bush was a small round creature with tiny legs and huge arms, covered in strange markings. A few more followed behind all different sizes. Rin stared in shock; he’d never seen anything like them before. Where they some sort of animal? If they were, they were freaky looking. They stared at the flame before turning to Rin, sniffing as they cautiously approached, they seemed more wary of him that he was of them at this point.

He reached out a hand towards the closest one, he sniffed him before letting out a purr and nuzzling into his hand. The others soon followed suit much to Rin’s surprise; he was soon surrounded by nuzzling, purring little critters. The flame flickered calmly while Rin played around with them; hidden within the trees. It felt like he had a friend for the first time ever, someone that didn’t judge him for being different and saw past the demon he was made out to be.

The blue flame flickered away and the creatures scattered away into hiding again. Rin had a look of hurt for a moment before he realised, they were not running from him. The sound of someone calling his name soon brought him out of his thoughts. The sound of footsteps approaching from the park, they’d found him. Rin sighed. Rin stood and made his way out of the trees, one last look back at the clearing to see a tiny slither of blue flame before it disappeared completely.

He was scolded for his disappearance when he emerged from the trees by the priests, they would probably tell Father Fujimoto when he returned as well. On the way back he’d had to swat away a few more black bugs that had been hovering in front of him, this did not go unnoticed by the priests who in return looked at him with some form of worry.

On return to the Monastery, Rin immediately returned to his room without a word to the other priests. He knew it now more than ever; the voice was trying to show him something important.

Nagatomo watched as Rin walked down the hall and waiting till he was out of earshot before dialling Shiro on the phone.

“Fujimoto, I think Rin has started to see demons…”

* * *

Shiro had tried to make any excuse possible to get out of work, needing to get back and explain things to Rin, it was like that bastard clown was trying to keep him busy on purpose. Nagatomo had said Rin had been noticing the Coal Tars floating around but apart from that nothing else seemed to be different. He’d snuck out to the park, but there were others there and nothing suspicious seemed to have happened. He felt relief knowing that and that Rin hadn’t awakened, the seal had just weakened. Maybe he should speak to Mephisto first, find out how best to approach this. He would like to keep Rin hidden, just in case but he can’t keep him home forever; he still had school to attend. At least he was suspended this week.

He raised his hand to clutch onto his chest, feeling for the familiar weight of the Kamikakushi Key that hid Rin’s secret. Not feeling it immediately he froze, further investigating his garments; the key was gone. But where? He never took it off it was far too valuable for that! He searched his office, to his horror it was nowhere to be seen. How did a magic key just up and disappear…then it hit him – that damn clown.

He stormed off to Mephisto’s office, barging in without knocking.

“Mephisto! You damn clown, did you take the Kamikakushi Key?! I swear it was around my neck when I arrived and now it’s gone! You’re the only one that would’ve spirited the thing away.”

“Ah Shiro, I’m hurt you would think so! I have done nothing of the sort.” He said with a sly grin. “Maybe you just misplaced it at home by mistake.”

“I had it when I came to work, I’m sure of it!” Shiro growled.

“Are you though? Key’s are quite easy things to misplace. Maybe you should return home and look for it.”

The look on Mephisto’s face made him uncomfortable but he nodded, wanting to return home anyway and check on Rin. He could’ve just phoned and asked Nagatomo to check for it otherwise.

* * *

Rin returned to his room after the priests had retrieved him from the park, on entering he noticed something glistening on his desk. He walked closed to see a strange-looking key, the same key that had been hanging from Father Fujimoto’s neck. The voice sang in his ear as he stared at it, this key was important for something; something to do with him. Gripping it tightly in his hand the voice urging him to use it, he wondered for a moment where but soon realised it had something to do with that red cabinet in his father’s room. Now was as good a time as any with only a few of the priests to supervise him.

He poked his head out of his room and looked both ways down the hall, no one was around. From the distant sounds, he could hear the priests were in the kitchen preparing things for dinner. He snuck to Father Fujimoto’s room; it was locked. He sighed, disappointed; he turned to return to his own room defeated when he heard a lock click. Hesitating he tried the door again; it opened this time. That wasn’t creepy at all…

Giving another listen for the others he pushed the door open and slid through what little gap he could make before closing the door again with a silent click.

He listened at the door briefly to make sure no one had heard and come to check what he was doing. The voice sang again, drawing his attention from the door towards the cabinet of drawers. Running his hand down the front and stopping at the middle drawer, the same one he’d felt the spark from before. He took the key in his hand and put it in the lock; his hands now shaking from the anticipation of what was inside, what his father was hiding. With a soft click, he unlocked the drawer and opened it.

Inside the drawer was a beautiful sword, blue scabbard decorated with silver trim. He ran his hands over the cool surface instantly knowing this was what the voice had been leading him to this whole time. He picked up the sword from the drawer and examined it closely, there were remnants of paper burnt away where the hilt met the scabbard. He could wonder why his dad had a sword hidden away, but he could ask the same about the guns…

The guns were strange and worrying, even more so since his brother had his own hidden for some reason. But the sword felt special; at least to him it did. There was something familiar about it and the voice was practically screaming now that he had it in his hands. As if he was in a trance his hands moved of their own accord, one to grip the hilt as the other held the scabbard. Something inside him was bubbling up with joy.

His arms tensed to pull as someone opened the door to the room. There was a yell that didn’t register before the blade was drawn and he felt his body explode with some sort of energy before the room was flooded with flickering blue light.


	2. Am I Cursed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo continuation~!

Rin had already begun to pull the sword out of its sheath before he even registered someone walking into the room and something being yelled. Before he had a chance to look, he was engulfed by blue flames exploding out from himself and the sword. He screamed in pain as he fell to his knees his spine aching and throbbing all over.  
Whoever had walked in the door yelled as they were thrown back out again and against the opposing wall with a loud thud. More footsteps came running through the halls as the rest of the priests reacted to the noise.

Nagatomo and Maruta pulled an injured Izumi back away from the flames that surrounded the hall, they were slowly receding back into Shiro’s room. They gathered at the door to see Rin on his knees, staring intently at the flames surrounding him. The unsheathed Kurikara on the floor. Nagatomo acted quickly once the flames had lessened enough to enter the room and quickly sheathed the sword again. The flames disappeared.

Rin snapped out of his trance and looked up at the priests, the looks of horror they were giving him had him recoiling into himself. His gaze moved to Izumi who was lightly burnt in places. Had he done that? He quickly stood up, causing the priests to flinch, before grabbing the sword from Nagatomo’s hands and running back to his own room, slamming the door behind him.

“Shit!” Nagatomo swore; a look of guilt gracing his face as he looked at the doorway Rin had left out of. At least he hadn’t left the building, Shiro would hopefully be back soon.

Rin returned to his room, slamming the door behind him. What the hell just happened?! He looked at the sword in his hands, he’d been surrounded by that same blue fire that he’d seen and played with, in the park. He’d hurt Izumi, by accident but still…the looks on their faces when he was surrounded by those flames was enough to tell him he’d done something very wrong. Something behind him caught his attention, waving back and forth erratically; he jumped in surprise. As he turned it followed him around before he grabbed hold of it.

Now, he hadn’t been expecting to actually ‘feel’ the thing he’d grabbed on to but when he had, the pain of his fist clenched around the thing shot up his spine and he immediately yelped and let it go again. He moved to grab the thing again, this time more gently. Running his hands along the black length and bringing it around to his front sent a shiver through his body. On closer inspection he realised it was covered in black fur, with a soft fluffy end; it was a tail.

Rin suddenly couldn’t breathe, falling into his desk and knocking everything to the floor. How the hell did he have a tail?! What happened when he pulled that sword?! He gripped hold of the frame of the chair in front of his desk tightly, trying to get his breathing under control again. The frame snapped under his strength and he moved to the bedsheets holding them over his face as if using them instead of a paper bag would help. Instead, he managed to scream into the sheets, using them to helpfully muffle the noise. After finally finding his breath again he remained still with his face in the sheets until his breathing slowed to a reasonable pace. His heart still pounding in his ears.

When he pulled his face away from the sheets, he spared a glance back at the offending new body part that had magically appeared. It was definitely attached to him as he could _feel_ it. Every movement it made felt like an extension of himself, it was a strange sensation. Was that the only change though, or was there more? He bit his lip in frustration before gasping in pain once again as something sharp sliced his lip open, he froze to the spot. Suddenly catching his reflection in a small mirror that had fallen to the floor from his desk. Ignoring the blood dripping from his lip he moved closer to the mirror pulling his mouth open with his hands. His canine teeth had gotten bigger…and sharper, it looked like he had fangs. He moved his head around trying to find anything else different. He nearly missed it due to his hair covering the tips but they poked out just enough for Rin to notice the slight points on his ears. What did he do to himself by pulling that sword? Was he cursed? Why the hell did his dad hide something like that in their home?! He spent the next hour staring at the changes to his face and body going through various stages of panic before concluding he had cursed himself. He was finally drawn out of his thoughts by a loud knock on his door, he jumped, dropping the mirror onto his desk and dived towards the bed to hide under the bedsheets.

“Leave me alone!” he managed to choke out.

He didn’t want anyone to look at him again, not after the looks the priests had given him earlier. He didn’t want to scare anyone else.

“Rin, it’s me. We need to talk!” The sound of his father’s voice boomed through the door. The panic returned; he wasn’t ready to face his father about this yet!

“I said go away, old man!” He growled, much to his surprise. Not that any of this deterred the old priest, opening the door and facing the young man now hidden in a fort of bed sheets, keeping his new features away from the view of his father. The sword was now hidden in the fort with him.

* * *

Shiro used a key and had been immediately transported to the Monastery from Mephisto’s office. He could hear movement from the kitchen, so that was the first place he went. He found Nagatomo and Maruta tending to a somewhat burnt Izumi, they all stopped and froze when Shiro walked in giving him troubled and fearful looks.

Shiro looked confused at first, coming close to examine Izumi better, the burns weren’t serious luckily but he’d injured his head as well.

“What happened?” He looked around taking in the dinner prep that had been somewhat abandoned amid tending to Izumi. They looked at each other, steeling themselves for the following conversation.

“Shiro, I think you should sit down.” Shiro moved to grab a nearby chair, lowering himself down “It…it’s Rin.” A sense of dread overcame him at that moment and he abruptly stood again.

“Where is Rin now?”

“He’s in his room…but Shiro before you go—” Shiro didn’t hesitate if the burns were from Rin and he’d awakened then he needed to talk to him now more than ever. Before something more terrible could happen. He walked past his own room completely oblivious to the charred walls surrounding the door as he marched on to his son.

Standing outside Rin’s door and was about to let himself in, but thought better of it knocking loudly. The panic in him building as he waited for an answer. He could hear something fall and rustling from the other side of the door.

“Leave me alone!” Rin let out a strangled shout.

“Rin, it’s me. We need to talk!” Shiro put on his most authoritative voice, he was going to need it for the following conversation.

“I said go away, old man!” Rin growled back.

Shiro ignored the youth; opening the door and letting himself in. He turned to Rin, who was sat on the bed huddled under a blanket like it was a fortress. He sighed “Rin come out of there I need to talk to you.”

“So, talk. Explain to me what this is.” Shiro was confused for a moment before Rin shoved something out from under the sheet. His eyes fell upon the Koma sword, Shiro turned pale as he lost all feeling in his legs and dropped to his knees. Pulling the sword towards him and holding it in his shaking hands.

“Where…how did you get this?”

Rin didn’t answer, staring at Shiro from beneath the sheets covering his form, still waiting for his answer.

“Rin, answer me. How did you get this sword?!”

Rin poked a hand out from beneath the sheets, in it he held a key; a key that looked very familiar to Shiro. His breath hitched as he recognised it as the same key he’d been panicking over losing just a few moments ago.

“I found this key in my room and…I figured out where to use it. Anyway, I found the sword locked away in your room. So, I want you to explain what the hell this sword is.” Shiro could hear that Rin was struggling to hold back his anger right now and if he had already awakened then he needed to know the truth.

“Fine, but you need to take those sheets off, I am not speaking to you about this whilst you’re hiding.” Rin stiffened beneath the sheets, he was hiding for a reason and didn’t want Shiro to see just yet… he’d already scared the priests enough for one day.

Rin shuffled the sheets further back so only his face was visible to Shiro, carefully bringing his knees up and keeping his mouth hidden from view. Shiro looked at him suspiciously.

“Rin, what are you hiding…?” He moved his hand to remove the sheet on Rin’s head but Rin flinched away, only to be stopped by the wall.

“Don’t! Please…not yet. Just explain what the sword is.”

Shiro paused looking at the sword and then to Rin, putting the two together and realising the depth of the situation he’d come home to. It was no longer that Rin was seeing demons and may have awakened somehow…the look of dread returning to his face did not go unnoticed by Rin who just looked guilty in return.

“You drew the sword, didn’t you?” His voice was a strangled whisper.

Rin nodded slowly.

“I only wanted to look at the blade…I didn’t know…I didn’t think anything like that would happen! I don’t even know what came over me! It was like my body moved on its own!” Rin tried to explain, but it almost seemed like it was falling on deaf ears when Shiro just stared at him with a look of horror; his attention drawn to Rin’s mouth. Rin noticed smacking his hand over it; covering himself up again, the feeling of shame drifted around him. “What happened to me?” he choked out.

The question broke Shiro out of his daze, this was still his son. His sweet rebellious little boy with far too much strength than he knew what to do with; his heart was still as big. This was not the demon he’d fought and sealed away that day; the one he feared would be released again when the sword was drawn. This was still Rin. His shoulders slumped as he sighed, relaxing a little.

“Rin it’s okay, let me see, please.” He asked calmly.

Rin slowly lowered the sheets he’d tangled himself up in, revealing to Shiro the slightly pointed ears he’d been hiding. He lifted his shirt a bit, to reveal a long black appendage wrapped around his torso. It unwound itself and wriggled freely behind Rin before wagging against the wall in an irritated and nervous gesture. Rin just looked down at the bed, avoiding Shiro’s eyes.

“What did the sword do to me? Why was something like that even in the house? And those guns…what’re they for?!” Rin cried question after question at Shiro, who gave a concerned look at the mention of guns.

“Guns? What guns?” Rin glared at him for even trying to play dumb.

“The guns in that cabinet; the guns under Yukio’s bed. Why the hell does Yukio have guns?!” Shiro sighed, this was going to be a long day.

“You’ve certainly been a thorough little investigator haven’t you…?”

“It wasn’t like I could help it…the damn voice wouldn’t shut up—” Rin stopped, taking note of the look of shock on Shiro’s face. He sighed; he’d have to explain now… “I’ve been hearing a voice since sometime after our birthday. It’s the thing that’s been leading me to everything…it was how I found the sword in the first place.”

“What kind of voice?” Shiro asked full of concern, was it Satan?

“I don’t know how to explain it really. But whatever it was I felt compelled to follow it…”

“It wasn’t talking to you or telling you to do anything?” Rin shook his head.

“No…it was just whispering that I couldn’t make out. But I could sort of grasp what they wanted…”

Shiro groaned pinching the bridge of his nose. Where to start.

“You really should’ve told me Rin, if I’d known that I might’ve explained all this earlier. Before…” Before he’d drawn that sword and sealed his fate.

“You **might** have explained? You mean you had no intention of telling me--?” Shiro stopped him before it escalated.

“No, I had every intention of telling you, when the time was right.”

“So, there is more to this than me just drawing a magic sword that I wasn’t supposed to touch?” Shiro hesitantly nodded. “When exactly was the right time, old man?!” A flutter of blue flame rose from Rin’s head as he got angry but he took a breath to attempt to calm himself down. He wouldn’t learn anything if he kept getting yelling at him.

“Rin,” Shiro began, the seriousness of his tone nearly made Rin flinch like he was being scolded. “The Koma Sword, Kurikara, is a magic sword that currently holds your Demon Heart.”

“My what…?”

“Rin, you are the child of a demon.” Rin felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart with those words. Coming from his own father no less. But he remained silent in his pain and Father Fujimoto continued speaking. “But not just any demon. The demon of all demons…you are the son of Satan himself.”

Satan? As in King of hell, ultimate evil Satan? He was the child of the ultimate evil…he was a demon.

“What…I-I—” Rin kept opening and shutting his mouth trying to get the words to form but he was struggling against the raging inferno that was now bubbling up from inside him. His teeth clenched together as he gripped his hair, blue flames slowly leaking from his body shooting an almost murderous glare towards his father.

“So…everyone was right about me? And you…you told me I was human, you made me believe I was human?!

“Rin!” He placed his hands atop Rin’s shoulders, risking the slight burns, looking him in the eyes “You are the son of a demon **and a human**. Your _mother_ was human, and that makes you half-human.” It seemed to work; Rin calmed slightly, flames receding back into his body. Shiro held back the sigh of relief.

“So, I’m both?”

Shiro nodded.

“Yes, you are both human and demon. When you were born, your demonic heart was sealed inside the Kurikara sword; you were separated from your demonic nature so you could be raised normally, as a human child.” He picked up the sword and handed it to Rin. “The sword belongs to you.”

“Wait… so the sword was mine all along? I didn’t just unleash some curse on myself by pulling it out?”

Shiro gave a distant chuckle at the thought. If only that were the case…curses could be broken.

“No, this sword is the home of your demon heart. You must guard it with your life. The point was to never draw the sword and you’d be able to remain human.” Rin frowned, too late for that now. Shiro leant forward and draped the key around Rin’s neck.

“You can use the key to hide the sword again. It is important you keep it safe, and it does not fall into the wrong hands.” Rin nodded “That sword is the source of your power, drawing it will release your flames. You must not let anyone see those flames.”

“How come?”

“The blue flames are a sign of Satan if anyone knows who you are – either demon or human – you will be in danger.”

“What about the priests? They all saw them when I…Is Izumi okay?”

“Izumi is fine, only a few burns nothing serious. But everyone here knows the situation Rin, we all raised you both knowing where you’d come from. Don’t worry about that.”

Both…

“Yukio…is he a demon too? Does he know? Is…is that what his guns were for? And yours?”

Shiro pulled his oldest in for a hug before he got upset or angry again.

“The guns are not for you. They are to protect you.” He felt Rin relax in his hold “Yukio is human, he was too weak to sustain the power so it only went to you.” Rin was mildly relieved but also somewhat jealous.

“Does he know what I am?” Rin’s voice was muffled by Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro nodded and sighed.

“Yes. Yukio knows. He has been training to become an Exorcist, like me. That’s what his guns were for. He wants to protect you as well.” Rin gripped Shiro tighter; feeling a sense of betrayal knowing that Yukio had kept this from him the whole time. “You’re safe here Rin, none of us want anything to happen to you.” Rin nodded hesitantly.

They heard a door slam from down the hall followed by some muffled conversation between the priests and whoever just walked in. Footsteps were then heard rushing down the hall towards the room. Rin tensed up in Shiro’s embrace, he _knew_ it was Yukio back from school; he was terrified of his reaction. He was afraid he’d see the same terror that had been on Izumi’s face when he drew the sword earlier. His tail instinctively coiled around his torso again as Yukio entered the room.

“Dad what’s—” His eyes drew to Rin, burying his face in Shiro’s chest until something else caught his eye; his breath caught in his throat when he eyed the Koma Sword on Rin’s lap. Shiro gave him a knowing look.

“What happened…?” The question hung in the air until Rin removed himself from Shiro and Yukio got a better look at him. A tail unfurling from around him. Rin met his eyes expecting to see fear but was surprised to see the pitying look he was giving him. “Nii-san…”

“What?” He snarled “I found a sword, I wanted to look at it. How was I supposed to know what would happen…?” He frowned at Yukio who in return looked back at him guiltily.

“It’s not Yukio’s fault, I made him swear not to say anything.” Shiro scolded him but Rin just looked at his tail. “Like I said I wanted to raise you as a human. I wanted you to have nothing to do with that world for as long as possible.”

He raised his head back to Shiro “What world?”

Shiro proceeded to explain to Rin everything about Assiah and Gehenna that he could. Rin listened but could still not quite accept the existence of demons, even though he was half of one.

He frowned a question on the tip of his tongue, not sure if he wanted to know the answer but better to ask than have more surprises later. He sighed.

“So, what happens to me now that I’m **not** human anymore?” It was a question with far too much weight behind it and Shiro wasn’t sure how to answer. The fact was, he knew Mephisto was going to get involved since the sword had been drawn but wasn’t sure if he could convince the demon to let Rin remain with him. The defences on the church weren’t nearly as strong as True Cross Academy but they had kept him hidden for 15 years.

“Do I have to go to Gehenna?” Shiro immediately looked at him with a shocked expression.

“No! You are born of Assiah, and you will stay in Assiah.” Rin had no idea what Gehenna or Satan was like, but he was at least relieved he didn’t have to find out. He visibly relaxed before something else crossed his mind.

“But I can’t stay here?” Rin stared at his foster-father intently waiting for his answer.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. Currently only we know of your awakening, so you can remain here. But,” He paused to make sure Rin was still paying attention and looking for signs of anger again “I will not be able to protect you forever, and plans need to be made. I need to figure some things out.”

“So, there is a chance I will have to leave home?” Rin gripped his tail a little too tight causing a tremor of pain to slip up his spine. Shiro nodded with a sad look.

“Yes, but only for your own protection. It’s not something I want to do. We will still be able to come and see you.” Rin didn’t say anything in response, he was angry about this but yelling was going to get him nowhere. Father Fujimoto looked guilty enough about this whole thing.

“Right, I need to go and make arrangements, I don’t know if you will be able to return to school” Rin perked up a bit at that but was soon shot down “but I can try and get you home-schooled for the remainder of the term.” He slumped back down and groaned.

“Rin, whilst I’m out please do not leave the Monastery.”

“But!” He was silenced with a hand.

“No buts. If someone untoward finds you, human or demon and they know who you are…I dread to think what will happen. For the time being you are safe here, please just do as you’re told this one time. I’ll figure something out.” Shiro pleaded with his son. He needed to speak with Mephisto and figure out where to go from here.

“Fine, old man.” Rin frowned, settling himself back down to his bed.

Shiro apologized again as he left the room, shutting the door behind him; the twins were left alone in awkward silence. Rin slid his legs off the edge of the bed so he was sat facing Yukio, his tail thrashed behind him in irritation; Rin grabbed it and held it down on his lap before glaring at Yukio.

“So…” Rin began not taking his eyes from Yukio’s “How long have you known?”

Yukio moved to sit opposite on his own bed he let out a resigned sigh. This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. “I found out about you and our…father—” he grimaced at the association of that word with the being he spoke of “—a few years ago. But I started my exorcism training when I was seven” He took note of the deepening frown on Rin’s features.   
“Nii-san, I’ve been able to see demons for as long as I can remember. Father Fujimoto offered to train me in exorcism so rather than being afraid of them I could fight them. He thought it would help me overcome them, and I wanted to get stronger. Even more so after learning about us and where we came from.”

“You mean after learning that I’m a demon.” The glare intensified

“Half-Demon, Nii-san. You are still half-human.” Rin scoffed. Like that made any difference.

“So, you and the old man go around killing demons then? Since I don’t think you need guns for counselling people on imaginary things, right? Is that the ‘club’ you’ve been going to every night?” This wasn’t going well; Yukio could tell Rin was getting angrier the more this conversation went on. “Were you going to kill me too?”

“No!” Yukio stood abruptly at Rin’s accusation. “Nii-san, I wanted to help protect you! Yes, I might’ve been scared at first, but I never had any intention to hurt you.”

“I bet you were relieved.”

“What do you mean?”

“To learn that you were human. That I was the demon. I suppose it made sense, me being the violent one. The one with a bad temper and always getting into fights.”

“Nii-san, you know I never thought of you as a demon. Yes, I’m relieved I’m human and I admit at first, I was afraid. But even I could see you were the same old Rin after some time and I was more scared about what would happen to you when you did finally awaken. I hoped it never would…”

Rin sighed, letting go of some of the anger and irritation he felt for his brother. He cared about him too much to hold it against him. He rolled himself up in his bed sheets again, pulling them over his head. His tail pulled into the sheets and held close to his chest, some strange instinct to keep it close by and out of sight.

“I’m just gonna sleep the rest of today away since I can’t go anywhere anyway. Tell the guys I don’t want any food.”

Yukio stared at the mound of sheets with a worried look eventually nodding with a noise of affirmation and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Rin listened as Yukio left the room and relished in the silence as he was left alone with his thoughts. At least he had planned to before the strange voice made itself known again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit I struggled but glad I have some sort of continuation. Hope you like it :D! There will be a few more chapters to come I don't know how many but I'll see how this goes.


	3. Tension

Rin’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the voice in his head again. Immediately he pushed off the sheets and was sat bolt upright in his bed.

“What the hell…I thought this was over.” He groaned as he rubbed his temples.

Rin slid off the bed, his tail falling to the floor in a wispy motion, and moved toward the window. The voice was calling to him again, it was louder than ever. Like pulling the sword had made it clearer in his head. He closed his eyes and the next time the voice sang he could see flickers of a blue flame behind his eyelids. He wondered if it had something to do with that flame he’d found in the park.

He wanted to go and investigate, but he’d promised Father Fujimoto he’d remain in the monastery. He should tell Father Fujimoto the voice is still there…but at the same time, he wanted to know what else the voice wanted to show him without his family’s interference. He’d already found out so much on his own and knew if he went and told them it was still happening; he’d forever be confined to his bedroom ‘for his own safety’. He sighed at the thought.

He pushed the voice to the back of his mind again, he would ignore it for now. At least until Father Fujimoto returned with whatever plans he was sorting out. Rin dwelled on that thought for a moment. He would have to leave his home of 15 years, it felt more like he was being kicked out for being a demon more than for his own protection. Why did he need protection? If he could keep his flames hidden what problem was there? Couldn’t he still go on as he has been this whole time?

He suddenly remembered the fiery explosion and even the flames that leaked from his body whilst he was angry. Were they reactive to his emotions as well? He held out his hand in front of himself for a moment and concentrated on it, to his surprise his palm filled with a flickering blue flame. Just like the flame that had appeared to him before, were they the same? Did he make the flame in the park? It didn’t burn him so it was possible.

He moved his hand around, the flame following before he stared at it in concentration again and it went out of existence, much to Rin’s surprise. He turned back to his bed, the Koma sword catching his eye. He didn’t want to pull that out again after the explosion it caused before. He felt for the key around his neck, Father Fujimoto said to hide the sword with the key but Rin felt somewhat reluctant to part with the sword now that he had it. He felt locking it away again would just cause the voice to get angry and desperate again. That and the fact that the sword held his demon heart made him want to keep it close.

He picked it up and held the sword in his hands for a moment. He was sure he could feel his heart within it, it felt wrong. It felt wrong to be separated from such an important part of himself. He was curious if it was possible to get it out, but wondered the implications of even doing that. Father Fujimoto said he’d been separated from his demonic nature…so what had he been like before that?

He scratched his head in frustration. There were still far too many questions he wanted to ask his father when he returned. He put the sword down, stood up next to his bed. Should he try to go back to sleep? Or should he venture out of the room and hope the others can help him drown out the voice before it compels him to leave the monastery again?

In the end, he decided to leave the room, he didn’t particularly want to risk his father’s wrath if he left the monastery after being told not to. Not this time. Father Fujimoto seemed pretty on edge after finding him with the sword, he wasn’t ready to push his limits yet.

Rin left the room, closing the door behind him. He made it a short way down the hall before stopping outside Father Fujimoto’s room. The door frame and the floor blackened from the explosion of flames from his own body. He was worried more for Izumi after seeing the damage to the room, perhaps he had hurt him more than he was being told. Wouldn’t be the first lie for his sake. He quietly wandered towards the kitchen where he could hear Yukio and the others talking.

“Ow ow ow! I’m fine dammit! How is Rin doing? He looked pretty upset when he stormed out.” Izumi asked as he was being patched up by Maruta.

“Nii-san is…” Yukio paused “He’s angry, but he’s being surprisingly calm about it. He said not to bother doing him any food he was just going to sleep the day away.” He sighed.

“Hm well he’s calm for now, anyway” Nagatomo mumbled to himself, but Rin could hear clear as day “Once Sir Pheles gets involved though, I don’t think he’ll be so calm about it.”

Who was Sir Pheles? Was that who Father Fujimoto had gone to speak to?

“It depends what’s decided, he might allow Rin to remain here. Which he would probably feel better about.” Maruta chimed in; a glimmer of hope rose in Rin’s chest.

“If Nii-san stays here he will have to lay low, I doubt father will let him out much now that the demons can probably sense him. He’s just going to end up like some caged animal…” Rin sucked in a sharp breath at that. “I don’t think it will benefit him to remain here.”

Rin moved away from the conversation, he was upset enough and would probably get angrier if he had to listen to conversations about himself. He moved to the main church of the Monastery, tucking his tail under his shirt. Not many people were around but he’d rather not run the risk of being seeing him with his tail out. He sat down in one of the empty pews.

Kyodo was steadily tidying the church with Misumi, neither of them noticed Rin’s presence in the room. Rin slumped down his arms crossed on the back of the pew in front and he rested his chin on top. He found himself staring at the lit candles around the alter watching them as they flickered and swayed.

The longer he stared at the candles the more entranced he became like if he concentrated enough, he could control the flame himself. He wondered what was the difference between a normal flame and a blue one beside them belonging to Satan. What did a blue flame have that a normal flame didn’t to insight such fear into people?

Suddenly the flame turned blue under his gaze, the rest of the candles followed suit until the entire altar was lit with blue flamed candles. Kyodo and Misumi took note of the change a look of panic appearing on their faces as they looked around the room. Until they noticed Rin nestled in the pews as if he were hiding there. Their panic ebbed and Kyodo approached Rin whilst Misumi extinguished the candles. It would do no good for an exorcist to walk in and see an altar illuminated by blue flame.

“Hey!” Kyodo said casually.

“Mm…” Rin grumbled in response.

Kyodo gave a kind smile, noting the new points on Rin’s ears.

“I heard about what happened, are you okay?”

“Are you afraid of me like everyone else?”

“Me? Afraid of you? Nah.” He ruffled Rin’s hair as he laughed. “None of us are afraid of you Rin, we’re afraid **for** you. We’re afraid _he_ is going to come for you and we won’t be able to protect you.”

Rin remained silent looking for some sort of hidden tell that Kyodo was lying but failed to see one, he nodded.

“But I suggest if you want to ‘practice’ lighting candles you do it somewhere private and away from the public. If an exorcist or anyone who would do you harm see’s the blue flames, they will know what they are. You will be in danger.” Rin nodded with a blush “Maybe behind the alter down in the basement. Anywhere else and this place would go up in flames heh heh.” He gave Rin a pat on the back as he stood to continue helping Misumi. Rin stood and began to make his way back to his room when he turned to look towards the open church doors for a moment, the voice sang in his head again.

Every fibre in his body was pulling him towards the voice like he was meant to follow it. He chanced a glance back at the two priests who were busy working before his steps slowly took him towards the open door. He stood there for a moment looking out at the streets. He closed his eyes; the cool air felt nice on his face. When his eyes opened again outside the gates in the middle of the street was the little blue flame he’d seen before.

The voice was singing all the while Rin stared at this flame, his tail unfurling from around his waist to fall freely by his feet. It felt better this way when he didn’t have to hide it away. When **he** didn’t have to hide away. He was about to take a step towards the flame before a shout came from behind him.

“Nii-san!”

Yukio ran over and grabbed his arm, pulling him through the doors back into their home beyond the church. He pushed him harshly against the wall.

“What are you doing?!”

Rin stared at his brother in shock “Yukio…?”

“Father Fujimoto told you to stay put! I thought you were sleeping! Where exactly were you going?!”

“I…” Rin looked away from his brother’s fierce eyes “Nowhere…”

“It didn’t look like nowhere, Nii-san.” Yukio calmed down slightly at his brother’s quiet demeanour. “I know you don’t like following orders but it's for your own safety.” Rin tensed up Yukio’s words.

“Everything is always for my own safety. I can’t leave the house for my own safety. You kept secrets about me for my own safety. I’m gonna be sent away FOR MY OWN SAFETY!” He growled, not even caring that Yukio flinched away. “Stop doing things for my own safety and just back off!”

He pushed past Yukio harshly and stomped back down the hall towards their shared room. His tail knocking into everything as he stormed off, he quickly wrapped it uncomfortably back around his waist. Yukio looked on with a guilty look; he’d let his brother cool off before attempting to apologize. Hopefully, Father Fujimoto wouldn’t be too long.

Rin slammed the door to the room, letting his tail free again now he was alone. It wasn’t fair, the school incident aside, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Yet he felt like he was being punished. He pulled out the chair to his desk and sat staring longingly out the window for a few minutes. He didn’t know how long Father Fujimoto was going to take, and he wasn’t sure he had the patience to wait for him.

Voice still readily whispering in his head and it wasn’t getting any easier to ignore.

Rin stood up, pulling his window open. He climbed over his desk and out of the window knocking over a jar of pens as he did so. Jumping to the ground below, his tail giving him a level of balance he never knew he had; he landed gracefully on his feet.

He figured he wouldn’t have long before someone noticed again and came looking for him, but he’d just wander around the grounds for now. He needed some fresh air to help clear his mind anyway. He looked around near the entrance, his tail now tucked under his shirt again. The flame had disappeared again; he sighed disappointedly.

Father Fujimoto had said that blue flames were a sign of Satan. He wondered if the little flame was Satan or if his own power and the voice were playing tricks on him. He sat down in a secluded area around the back of the monastery and began to experiment with his flame in private.

* * *

Father Fujimoto arrived back at Mephisto’s office. He didn’t even bother to knock knowing the demon probably already knew what was going on anyway.

“Back so soon, Shiro?” He said with a smug grin directly at the aggravated man.

“You knew what was going on didn’t you? You even took the key and left it for him to find?!”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mephisto responded with a playful air to his voice.

“Don’t mess with me, you asshole Clown.” Shiro slammed his hands down on Mephisto’s desk, snarling at the demon. “You knew about the voice, didn’t you? You helped Rin find the sword and kept me working so I couldn’t talk to him before he drew it!”

Mephisto sat calmly staring at the irate man before the corners of his mouth drew up into a smile. It had been a while since he’d seen this side of Shiro; he did enjoy it.

“A voice you say? I knew our dear Rin had been snooping but I had no idea he’d been hearing a voice. I’d be more worried about that if I were you.” Shiro froze for a moment.

“Why? Who is talking to him? He said he couldn’t make out what it was saying but he knew roughly what it wanted. Is Satan communicating with him…?” Shiro frowned, his earlier anger forming into an old fear.

“I don’t know…but keep watch over him for now. Back onto the topic of Rin drawing his sword – How is he?” Mephisto narrowed his eyes at Shiro; Shiro sighed.

“He seems himself, albeit angry we didn’t tell him before, which is understandable. Why did you help him find it? The key was with me, and I know it was you that spirited the thing away for Rin to find.”

“The seal was waning; it was only a matter of time before the demons found him and he was put into a more precarious situation forcing his awakening. You know as well as I do his heart will be released from the sword eventually.”

“He could’ve stayed human if he wanted to, but you enabled him and now that choice was taken away. All because you want your damn weapon.”

“But of course, Shiro. I am playing a much bigger game than your happy little family. You as well as your children are just more pawns in my battle against him far greater evils.” Shiro frowned but knew better, there were bigger things afoot to think about but it still hurt that his own son was being used against his will. Shiro resigned with a sigh.

“What is going to happen with Rin now? Can he remain—?"

“Rin will come and live with me.” He was cut off by the demon’s words. Feeling a deep cavern form in the pit of his stomach “Have him pack his things and prepared to move into my mansion by the end of the week. I will have him home-schooled until he is ready to start at True Cross.”

“You’re going to enrol him in True Cross?”

“He will need to be attending True Cross if he is to be attending the Cram School as well.” He gave Shiro a smug look “You will still be able to see him, as will Yukio. But you will no longer be his Guardian.”

“I thought we were keeping him hidden from the exorcists, why do you want to put him into an exorcist school?! He’ll be exposed and they’ll order his execution!” Shiro gave the demon a panicked look.

“If I am to protect the boy from execution he needs to be seen as an asset to the exorcists. They will be more lenient if he has already started his studies. And you know as well as I do that he can not be easily killed.” Mephisto gave Shiro a dark smile; Shiro frowned in response “I will make sure he is taken care of.”

“Can I explain this to him?”

“By all means, please do. I so wish I could be there to see his reaction. But I will have to wait until he is brought to me. I will send Belial to retrieve him this weekend.” He noted the silence and the forlorn look on Shiro’s face. “Don’t worry, Shiro. He will be in good hands. The seals of True Cross will protect him from anyone untoward and hopefully block out whatever or whoever is secretly speaking to him. He will also be among other demons here. Which will do him a world of good; since…he is a demon.” He snapped his fingers and the door to his office opened, his servant Belial walking in.

“Please escort Shiro out, Belial.”

“Yes, Sir.” He bowed motioning for Shiro to come with him out of the room.

* * *

Shiro knew he needed to get back to Rin but found himself wandering the True Cross grounds for an hour or so just to sort through his feelings about the situation. He had to find a way of breaking this to Rin in a way he wasn’t going to literally blow up about it. In the end, he came up with nothing, he knew what Rin was like, he always tried so hard to keep his temper in check recent events proved that further. He found the nearest door with a lock and used his key to get back to the Monastery.

The smell of food hit him as he walked in, arriving just in time for dinner. Walking into the kitchen the others looked at him expectantly; hopeful. Shiro just shook his head.

“Where is Rin?” He asked.

“He stormed off to his room after I had stopped him leaving the building…” Yukio answered.

He gave Yukio a questioning look but shook his head and moved to the boy’s room, he’d ask about it later. Knocking on the door he called to Rin but there was no answer. Maybe he finally went to sleep. Shiro quietly opened the door and walked into the room to find it empty, he looked around the room before realising the window was open. Panic and fear all rose up at once, sticking his head out of the window and looking to the ground below.

“RIN?!”

There was no answer.

“Shit!” He ran out of the room and back to the kitchen. “Rin’s gone. Climbed out the window from the looks of it. Spread out and search. Yukio how long ago did Rin go to his room?”

“About an hour or so, maybe? I assumed he’d gone to sleep.”

“Don’t worry, let's just find him before someone else does.” Shiro said with a tinge of panic in his voice.

Everyone spread out, searching both within and out of the monastery. It wasn’t long before Nagatomo shouted from the back door. Everyone gathered to where Nagatomo was calling from; around the back of the monastery. Snoring away with his back to the wall was Rin; Shiro let out a sigh of relief. He could’ve gotten a lot further if he had tried but decided to stay within the grounds at least, Shiro was thankful for that.

He knelt down and gently shook Rin awake.

“Mm old man?” Rin groaned, finally opening his eyes “You’re back…”

“Come inside Rin, we need to talk.” The tone of his voice had Rin worried.

Rin reluctantly got up and followed Shiro back inside. Everyone gathered in the kitchen, the dinner now on hold until this conversation was complete.

Rin hovered in the doorway as everyone else sat at the table. Shiro turned to Rin “Come and sit down.”

Rin glared at him “I have to leave, don’t I?”

Shiro looked at him with a sad expression; he nodded.

“This is bullshit! I didn’t do anything wrong and you’re kicking me out!” Everyone flinched when Rin’s fist hit the doorframe he was stood next to; the wood splintered. “But I bet this was planned already right? Since you all knew that I was a demon; Satan’s son…”

“Rin…”

“Hell, if I’m Satan’s son, why not just ship me off to wherever he’s hiding!”

“RIN!” The boy in question stopped as his adoptive father’s voice boomed around the room. “That’s enough!”

“This was not my choice and was out of my control. My friend has more resources to be able to keep you protected. This is for your own—”

The room illuminated blue.

“DON’T!” Everyone froze “Don’t you dare say this is for my own safety. I can see it on all your faces so don’t you dare lie to me. You’re all just afraid of me!” He looked around the room before falling on to Shiro’s shocked face. “And you, you’re just tired of playing father to a demon child.”

The sound seemed to register before anyone realised what had happened. They looked up to see Yukio had punched Rin who was now nursing his cheek with his hand.

“Stop it, Nii-san.” Yukio seethed.

The flames died down until they had disappeared, Rin abruptly left the room again. Shiro told the others to carry on and eat their food. Yukio stopped him briefly.

“Don’t let his words get to you, you know he doesn’t mean it.” Shiro’s shoulder’s slumped and he nodded.

“Yeah, I know he’s just angry. And I know _he_ is waiting for his opportunity to strike…” He took a deep breath, calming himself further before continuing down the hall to finish talking to Rin.

Knocking on the door he waited for Rin’s answer.

“Come in.”

He walked into the room to find Rin shoving clothes and other belongings into a bag.

“Figured I’d get a head start on packing.”

“Rin, stop a minute.” Rin stopped, not daring to look his father in the eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to come to this. I wanted you to stay here with me – but it’s not safe. I can only protect you from so much. Where your going is strongly sealed and you will be under the protection of a friend of mine. He’s an exorcist, and he is also a demon.”

Rin snapped his head to look at his father.

“You’re sending me to live with another Demon?! Wait--how is a demon an exorcist? Aren’t they supposed to kill demons?”

“He is a demon on the side of humanity and helps the exorcists with ways to drive back demons. Not all demons are bad, Rin. You might have his flames, but you are nothing like Satan.”

Rin simply nodded.

“Although I will warn you Mephisto is a tricky bastard. You’ll be living with him at his mansion, at True Cross Academy. He will have you home-schooled until it is time to start high school.”

“What?”

Shiro ignored the question and continued. “Then you’ll be enrolled at True Cross Academy and at the Exorcist Cram School. You will be training to be an exorcist, like Yukio and me.”

Rin’s eye widened, he was going to be an exorcist?

“B-But I’m…” He was a demon and the son of Satan, why would they want him to be an exorcist? “Isn’t that gonna be more dangerous than staying here? Sending me into a place full of exorcists!” Rin panicked.

“Yes and no. If you keep a low profile and keep your flames hidden, you’ll be fine. There are plenty of exorcists with demon blood. Your flames are what will make you stand out.” He paused waiting for Rin to understand; he nodded “Mephisto is the headmaster of the school and will be watching you closely. I am also a teacher at the cram school, so you’ll be under my care in that area – Yukio’s too.”

“Yukio’s a teacher?” Rin asked, his eyes wide with shock.

“He’s my assistant, he’ll be taking over one of my classes in the future so that I can concentrate on other more important duties. The point is you may not be living here anymore, but we will still be around to watch over you.”

“It’s still not fair. Would I have been able to stay here if I hadn’t drawn the sword?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you know you can trust this demon? What if he just wants to ship me off to Satan the moment I arrive?”

“I’ve known him a very long time, Rin. He’s been in service to the exorcists for 200 years. I know he has an interest in keeping humanity alive – even if it's just for his own entertainment. We’ve both experienced Satan up close and personal and he has no interest in helping him.”

“You’ve met Satan?”

Shiro groaned “That’s a conversation for another time.” He ruffled Rin’s hair before placing his hands on both of Rin’s shoulders. “You are _my_ son, Rin. I’ve never thought otherwise about you. No matter how rowdy and rebellious you get. Don’t forget that. I’ll never be tired of being your father.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine, I understand you're angry and this is a frustrating situation.” He pulled Rin into an embrace which Rin returned.

When Shiro finally left the room, Rin continued packing his things. He only had a few more days before the weekend; a few more days before the demon came to take him to True Cross.

The voice still a presence in the back of his mind, never quieting down. He was still curious about the flame though and wanted to go and find it again before he left. He wondered if anyone would notice him sneaking out during the night – if he could get past Yukio without waking him, he’d probably succeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry needed my Rin and Shiro feel good moment.


	4. Breaking Curfew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin sneaks out late at night only to get a shock when he returns.

Once Rin had finished packing his things, he put his bag along with Kurikara – now wrapped in a red case provided by Shiro – at the base of his bed. Yukio had tried apologizing for hitting him later in the evening, but Rin shrugged it off. He’d known he’d been in the wrong with what he said to his father and told Yukio he deserved it.

They both went to bed, Rin not getting any success with falling to sleep between the thoughts flying through his mind and the voice singing in his head. It was approaching midnight and he was laid there staring out of the window at the night sky above. Yukio was sound asleep in the bed opposite.

He never thought his life would get so torn apart from a simple act of pulling a sword out of it’s sheathe. The voice had given him so much truth but had also taken from him his family life. Now to be sent away to live with some demon.

Right now, his main recurring thought was the blue flame. Listening to Yukio’s steady breathing from the other side of the room, he quietly removed the sheets from himself and got out of bed. He stood at the window looking out into the night – street lights were on outside still. He could go out and be back again before the lights went out. But if he went would the flame even appear for him?

As if answering his question, he saw a flicker of blue out in the street, his breath hitched at the sight and he didn’t hesitate to quietly exit the bedroom and sneak towards the back door. The monastery was silent except for all the groans and creaks of the wood. Rin managed to shut the door to his and Yukio’s room as silently as possible before making his way down the hall. He froze outside his father’s room, noting the light shining from under the newly replaced door. He was still up?

Rin swallowed a lump and carried on; he could hear the shuffling sounds of paper from the room but nothing to indicate that he’d been heard. He quickened his pace finally reaching the back door. Grabbing a coat and slipping on some shoes he carefully unlocked the door and slipped out, silently shutting the door behind him with a click.

Rin turned away from the door, letting out a sigh of relief before taking a step towards the outer wall surrounding the monastery. Climbing on to some nearby crates, he hoisted himself to the top of the wall and over, landing gracefully on his feet again. Anxiety began bubbling up inside of him, his family would throw a fit if they knew he was sneaking out this late after everything they had told him. But he had to find the flame again the voice cheered with glee at being outside those walls – Rin wondered if that was a good sign or a bad one.

Not thinking about it any further he legged it through the outer churchyard, crisscrossing through the graves until he got to the exit and out to the streets. Taking one last look back at the front gates to the monastery before running down the streets into the night.

Rin soon arrived at the park, empty and devoid of any human life, with only a few black bugs floating around. He slowly walked to the overgrowth of trees he’d been to before. It was dark, the overgrowth seeming to block out the moonlight and any street lights. Was it always this secluded? He concentrated and called forth his flames, a small ball appearing in his hand so as not to set fire to the trees and bushes around him. As the flame lit up so did his surroundings, it was then he realised he was not alone.

The flame reflecting off lots of eyes staring at him from within the bushes and trees, but for some reason, he didn’t feel afraid. He carried on, walking towards the clearing deep within the overgrowth. Now somewhat perturbed by the lack of gaps within the trees, he was sure when he had been here yesterday, he could at least see the outside, had the streetlights gone off early or was it just because it was the night?

He didn’t have much time to dwell on it before the flicker of blue flame appeared in front of him on the ground, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked from the blue flame to the one in his hand, crouching down to the ground to compare the two side by side. The flame on the floor seemed to flicker happily at the interaction.

A rustling sounded from around him from the creatures that had been hidden away in the bushes, they soon started to emerge. Edging closer to Rin cautiously again before happily squeaking out the words “Prince!” and “one of us!” and nuzzling into his warmth. Rin was caught by surprise – he’d never heard them talk before.

“What are you?” Rin asked curiously.

“Goblin!” one shouted.

“Naga!” another hissed.

“Does that mean you’re all demons?” He looked around at the little creatures hopping and slithering around. They nodded excitedly in response. He was sure he should’ve been afraid, Shiro had given the impression the demons would attack him or try to take him away. But they seemed harmless – even before when he’d found them, all they wanted to do was play. Even the blue flame, ever silent, just flickered happily in the background whilst Rin interacted with the small creatures.

“What about this?” Rin pointed to the flame on the ground.

The demons hopped around happily with cries of “God!”, God flame!” and “Father!”

Rin looked at the flame suspiciously “…father…” He laid on his front, face right in front of the blue flame – he could feel its warmth but it was not burning.

“Are you Satan?” He stared into the flame as if looking for some sort of change, but found none; Rin sighed. Getting back up into a sitting position he tentatively stretched out his hand, putting it into the flame. There was no pain or burning just like before but something felt different this time, he wasn’t sure what though. With a frown, he withdrew his hand, but as he did so it looked like the flames were absorbed into him as they disappeared from the ground.

Rin looked around the clearing, as he shook the tingly feeling from his hand, the demons just stared at him waiting for him to play with them again. He shrugged it off and stayed to play with the demons for a little while before deciding it would be best to get back before he was found out for sneaking off again.

The demons went back to their hiding places within the bushes and Rin finally stood up, checking his watch it was 2am – still plenty of time to get back without being noticed. Hopefully, his father hadn’t gone to check on them before he went to bed. As he moved from the clearing and through the trees it started to get lighter, which confused Rin if it was still 2am it should still be dark outside, right?

When he finally exited the overgrowth, he emerged to a park full of children and parents, his tail quickly finding its way underneath his shirt as panic overtook him. He looked at his watch again and his face went pale, it was already 4pm! How?! He’d been gone for over 12 hours?! Father Fujimoto was going to kill him, then beat him and kill him again.

He ran back towards the monastery skulking around the ally opposite to get a view of the gates. His father was outside talking to a police officer, photo in hand, ragged and stressed look on his face. Rin wagered he’d been out looking for him all day and finally turned to the authorities to report him missing. Shit, he was dead.

He slid down the wall in the alley, trying to calm his panicked breathing. How did he miss the whole day?! It was 2am when he checked the time, how did it suddenly jump to 4pm?!

He spared another glance around the corner of the alley towards the monastery, his father was still talking to the police officer, Yukio now joining him. He should probably show his face before the police leave and file a report…

Pushing himself up slowly from the cold damp floor, he shuffled towards the monastery secretly hoping his father wouldn’t notice him. His tail twitched nervously around his torso before his whole body flinched at the shout directed at him.

“Nii-san!”

But of course, Yukio noticed him first. The sound of footsteps rushing towards him invaded his sensitive hearing. Before he knew it, his face was grabbed and inspected by none other than his father – red eyes full of fear and concern. He was vaguely aware they were asking him questions but his mind wasn’t registering anything at that moment.

Rin just stood there silent, Father Fujimoto gave up trying to question the boy and returned to the police officer, thanking him. Yukio looked at Rin concerned but followed their father back into the monastery; guiding Rin along with him.

When they got inside, Rin walked into the kitchen sitting himself down on to the nearest chair at the table; placing his head in his hands. He still couldn’t quite figure out what had happened; he’d only been out a few hours and as he left it had jumped 14 more hours. How was he supposed to explain where he’d been and for how long…?

Voices were slowly coming back to him, the rest of the priests joining in on the questioning as Father Fujimoto and Yukio were trying to break the cone of silence, he’d trapped himself in. He suddenly registered someone shaking him.

“Rin! Snap out of it!”

Rin lowered his hands and looked up at his Father.

“I’m sorry…” his voice came out a strangled whisper.

“Where have you been?! We’ve been looking all over for you!” His father sounded frantic; he’d really been panicking. “I told you not to leave the monastery and when I wake up, I find you gone. Anything could’ve happened to you! Anyone could’ve taken you!” It almost felt like he was bruising his father’s grip on his shoulders was so tight.

“I only went to the park…I couldn’t sleep – I just wanted to get out and think…” he was almost pleading with him.

“Nii-san we checked the park, we couldn’t find you anywhere…” Yukio said in a concerned tone.

Rin snapped his attention to his brother; how could they check the park and not find him?! How could he not hear them? How did he not hear all the children playing?

“I was there…I didn’t go anywhere else, I swear!” Rin sat there scratching his head in frustration. They all looked at him in disbelief – they had searched the park and found nothing. Nagatomo had even said about the overgrowth of trees that Rin had been hiding in before and found nothing. It was like he’d disappeared without a trace.

Shiro sighed “Okay, the important thing is you’re back and unharmed…You are unharmed, aren’t you?” He gave Rin a look just to confirm he’d not been in any fights in his absence.

“Yes! I’m fine!” Rin put his hands up in surrender “Nothing happened!”

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose “If I could get any more grey I would, you know? Go to your room, I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

“I’m not allowed to help?” Rin looked at him confused.

“That’s part of your punishment for leaving the monastery _and mine for letting you out of my sight_ ” He grunted; mumbling that last part to himself.

Rin nodded and left the room, leaving the others to pass worried glances around the table.

“I don’t think he was lying about where he was, dad.” Yukio looked to Shiro.

“No, which has me more worried…” Everyone looked at him questioningly “Since Rin drew the sword… _he_ ” Yukio could almost hear the disgust in his voice as he spoke “has been abnormally quiet. I’m worried the voice Rin was hearing was Satan.”

“Nii-san’s hearing a voice? Is that why he’s been so spaced out recently?” Shiro nodded.

“It’s also how he found the sword and everything else. I’d wager him sneaking out is something to do with this voice calling him as well.” Shiro lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Is he still hearing it?” Nagatomo asked.

“I don’t know, I think he is but he’s not made any mention of it since the other night. It would explain a lot though. It doesn’t help a lot of us haven’t been around to notice if he’s acting strangely.” He looked around the group, they’d all been too busy since the incident with the sword to notice any changes besides the obvious. Kyodo spoke up.

“He did seem a bit in a trance the other day in the church, he turned all the candles blue…I didn’t think much of it and told him to go practice in the basement where no one could see the flames.”

“Was that when I stopped him from going out the main doors as well? He seemed in a trance then to…”

Shiro hummed, something was at work here and Rin wasn’t telling them everything.

“I think we need to assume he can still hear the voice and keep a closer eye on him. At least until Mephisto takes him this weekend, I will have to hope the seals of True Cross can keep whatever it is out of his head…”

* * *

Rin stood at the end of the hall, listening to the conversation they were having about him. Shaking fists clenched by his side; voice still humming in his head. The voice wanted him to go back, the flame calling to him all the time now. Satan was possibly calling him…the thought made him shudder. His hand still tingled with a phantom feeling of the flame or maybe it was just his imagination. Would this all go away once he was taken to his ‘new home’? Did he want it to go away…?

He liked the demons; they were friendly and now he could even talk to them; given their vocabulary was limited but it was still nice. But if he left, he wouldn’t see them again, right? Not that he would be able to see them anyway, what happened was weird and Rin couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was like time had slowed down whilst he was in there and sped up again when he left. He wouldn’t be able to risk sneaking out again before he left…after seeing the fear in his father’s eyes he didn’t really want to either. He’d caused enough stress for his family over the last few days.

Rin returned to his room; he might as well occupy himself before dinner. He picked up the Koma sword from on top of his packed suitcase – unwrapping the sword briefly before re-wrapping and slinging it over his shoulder, strap in hand.

He began making his way towards the basement when it struck him, he should probably tell someone where he was going; lest more panic ensues. He walked back towards the kitchen where everyone was in full swing for dinner prep – he just realised he’d been gone all this time and didn’t feel the slightest bit hungry yet.

As he entered the kitchen a few unbusied eyes turned towards him, noting the sword slung over his shoulder.

“I hope you’re not thinking of going somewhere, Nii-san.” Yukio asked with a suspicious glare. Rin just shrugged it off.

“No…Kyodo suggested I go to the basement to practice with my flames. So, I was just letting you guys know where I’ll be.” He kept his gaze down, he almost felt ashamed to admit he wanted to practice with his flames. “So ya know, dad doesn’t have a heart attack.” He added to lighten the mood. Shiro laughed.

“Thank you for letting us know, Rin. I’ll come find you when dinner is done. Try not to burn anything down there.” He gave Rin a reassuring smile; Rin nodded in response and left for the basement.

“Is it a good idea to let him use his flames?” Yukio asked his father. “What if the more he uses them the more like—” Shiro put a hand up to stop him.

“At this stage in the game Yukio, it would be far worse to stop him from using them, at least in private. He needs to get used to his body and the changes that have happened. The more handle on his flames he has the less likely he’ll expose himself or hurt someone by accident…” Yukio seemed to be satisfied with that answer, but he still held a deep worry in his gut for his brother. He didn’t want his brother to become their birth father.

* * *

Rin lowered himself down to the basement, his footsteps echoing as he walked down the steps; closing the door behind him. He fumbled around for the light switch, pulling on the string to the old lamp once found. It was still quite dark, but light enough for Rin to see where he was going; not that he’d need the light so much in a moment.

Looking around the room, there wasn’t a lot down here besides spare bits for the church. He managed to find a sack of candles; the same ones used at the altar. He pulled the sack over to an empty spot lining up a few candles on the floor before pushing the sack aside again.

He spent the rest of his time before dinner lighting and extinguishing the candles with ease – which surprised him greatly. He’d not had that much practise at all since pulling the sword but it seemed to be coming easily to him.

Before long, it was time for dinner but Rin returned to the basement straight after. The voice had been whispering in the back of his head constantly – Rin swore it got louder again after his recent trip to the park. It was getting harder to ignore with each passing day.

Rin spent the next few hours in the basement – nobody bothered him at all, which was a relief. His eyes kept moving over to the sheathed Koma sword stood up against a wall in the darkness. Every time he looked at it, he felt the voice rise in his head. He stood up and walked over to the sword, bringing it back to his spot on the floor. Somehow, he’d subconsciously placed the candles in a circle around himself – all lit with a little blue flame.

He pulled the sword from its red bindings and chucked the fabric to the side, he sat there examining the finer details on the sword, the urge to draw the sword was strong again. No one was around this time, he’d already pulled it once so nothing bad would happen if he did it again, right? The voice practically screaming at him to pull it out and feel the power again.

Without thinking about it anymore he gripped the hilt and pulled the sword out of the sheath. Blue flames lit the room again but not quite the explosion as the first time he pulled it, he sighed in relief. He stared at the blade and the flames, holding the sword upright in front of him and resting his head against the flat of the blade. He could feel his heart hammering against his chest so hard like it was trying to break out and join with his demon heart inside the sword.

He had almost felt too entranced to realise the tingling from his hand had spread throughout the rest of his body but when he noticed he realised it felt good. Like this was who he was supposed to be, a being of power wreathed in blue flame. The better he felt the more the tingling intensified until he heard a voice clear as day speaking words in his mind.

_Break the seal_

His eyes snapped open, the voice and tingling louder and stronger. Dropping the sword, he slapped his hands over his ears trying to drown it out. It didn’t help, still getting louder. He grabbed the Koma sword again and slammed it back into the sheathe. The voices and tingling stopped; candles extinguished all at once. Rin was panting, sweat dripping from his face – he quickly composed himself when he heard the door open and footsteps approach.

“Nii-san, your still down here?!” Yukio looked somewhat shocked.

“Uh…yeah, I was just finishing up – I’ll be up in a sec.” Rin gave a nervous laugh and proceeded to tidy up his mess. Yukio noted the melted candles dotted around the floor and the Koma sword next to Rin. He nodded after a while and went back up, the door closing behind him. Rin dropped in relief.

He finished tidying up, maybe he would leave the sword out of his practice next time…picking up the item in his hands and putting it back into its case he made his way up the stairs. As he put his hand out for the door, he heard something crack, looking around the room he couldn’t see anything broken where he had been and he shrugged it off – pulling the light switch and exiting through the door.

A single blue flame appeared in the middle of where the candles had been before disappearing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda taking a somewhat darker turn than I had originally intended.....let the fun begin~
> 
> This will probably go on a tad longer than I anticipated...blame asteroulik(<3) for giving me juicy ideas.  
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos!


	5. Farewell

Yukio left the basement with an uneasy feeling. Rin had looked somewhat shaken when he’d first entered, he’d quickly composed himself though. He returned to their shared room – Rin soon joining him but his twin had said nothing more than a mumbled ‘goodnight’ before promptly turning his back to the room and going to sleep.

Something was going on and his brother wasn’t telling the whole story. They’d awoke the previous morning to Rin having gone missing and the panic around the monastery was intense. Rin had insisted he’d been at the park the whole time but didn’t elaborate on any more than that, even though they had insisted they’d checked everywhere.

But things just kept getting stranger after that.

Yukio had awoken during the night to Rin mumbling in his sleep. It was bad enough Rin slept with his eyes open like some drunken cat. But when he started mumbling in some foreign language Yukio couldn’t even place, alarm bells were ringing. At first, he just thought it was Rin slurring words in his sleep. But after listening for a little longer, it occurred to Yukio that it was, in fact, some other language. Rin didn’t know any other languages besides Japanese…he could barely understand English.

Yukio grabbed his glasses and spared a look to the digital clock on his nightstand; _it was 3 am_ …

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, he should tell his father but at the same time, his father needed to rest. He’d been under far too much stress the last few days. He cautiously moved from his bed and over to his brother and shook him gently.

“Nii-san!” he hissed; gently shaking Rin a second time.

This elicited a groan from his brother before Rin shouted out in his sleep.

“No! My Sukiyaki!” flailing an arm out and followed by more mumbling, before returning to quiet snores.

Yukio sat at Rin’s bedside somewhat dumbfounded, but overall relieved that the strange talking had stopped. He quietly moved back to his bed sparing one more look back at Rin’s peacefully sleeping form before removing his glasses and closing his eyes. He would talk to his father about this in the morning. At least, for all their sakes Rin was being moved tomorrow so that he could hopefully be free of the voices he’d been hearing.

Yukio woke early the next morning, feeling somewhat sluggish from his interrupted sleep. He looked over at the still sleeping form of his brother. He knew it would still be an hour or two before Rin awoke so Yukio decided to speak with his father in private. The last thing his brother needed was the whole monastery looking at him even more strangely than they already had but his father needed to know.

He wandered out of the bedroom; quietly shutting the door behind him and made his way to the main part of the monastery where the others were carrying out their daily duties. His father put down a book and turned to him with a tired smile; he didn’t look any more rested then yesterday it seemed.

“Hey Yukio, you look as tired as I feel.” Shiro chuckled.

“Yeah, I need to talk to you about that.” Yukio gave his father a worried look; his father’s smile dropped to a confused look.

“What’s wrong?” He asked as they moved away from the others to a secluded room around the back.

“Something happened with Nii-san last night.” Yukio started; noting the slight grimace on Shiro’s face at the thought of something else going wrong with Rin. It had been a trying few days. “I woke up to Nii-san talking in his sleep…at first, I thought it was nothing but after a while I realised, he wasn’t speaking Japanese…or any other language that I recognised.”

Shiro’s grimace soon turned somewhat fearful.

“That is concerning…” He rubbed a hand over his stubbled face “I’ll have a chat with Mephisto after Rin’s gone later on. I really hope being under True Cross’s seals, he’ll be free of whatever this is.”

“He seemed off when he finally came out of the basement last night as well.” Shiro nodded but remained silent.

“Did you sleep?” Yukio stared at his father; Shiro sighed before he shook his head.

“No…I was listening for Rin all night in case he decided to go on another late-night adventure.” Pushing his glasses up he pinched the bridge of his nose squeezing his eyes shut as he rubbed the spot. “I will get some sleep once he’s safe.”

“Do you trust Sir Pheles with him?”

“Ugh, I don’t trust the clown period. But what other choice do I have? I know he won’t hurt Rin, but he does have a sick way of entertaining himself. My only concern right now is getting Rin away from whatever is talking to him.”

“What if it doesn’t work? What if it is Satan and he still hears the voice?”

“I’m sure Mephisto will be keeping a close eye on anything strange, that’s for sure.”

He gave Yukio a reassuring smile and they both left the room to re-join the others. It wouldn’t be long before Rin woke up and they could all have breakfast together before he left the monastery for Mephisto’s home in True Cross.

* * *

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Rin’s hand smacked down on his alarm clock. Having reluctantly set it the night before so that he had time to get ready for today.

He woke up feeling rougher than usual, his throat hoarse and he felt hot, almost feverish. Since when did he get sick?! It couldn’t have been a worse day either, today was the day he was supposed to go live with his father’s demon friend. If that could’ve sounded any weirder. His priest/exorcist father was friends with a demon; a REAL demon. But then again so many revelations in the last few days kind of made that seem minimal in comparison. His father had raised the son of Satan.

He rolled over groaning at the pain he felt throughout his body. Why was he like this today?! What had he done the previous night? He was just messing with his flames in the basement, maybe it was because he drew the sword again. If this was going to happen every time, maybe he should lock the sword away again…

Glancing over to the other side of the room he noted Yukio’s bed was empty; not surprising. He tried to push himself up from his bed but everything ached; his muscles screamed. In the end, he flopped back down resigning himself back to sleep.

When he awoke again it occurred to him how silent it was. There was no voice singing in his head. No impulse to follow the call. It was silent. Only the usual sounds of the Monastery could be heard; the silent creaking of the walls and footsteps he could hear down the hall. The sunlight was pouring into his room, he wondered what time it was. If he’d slept in too late, he was sure Father Fujimoto would’ve woken him up. The demon was supposed to be coming to get him early this afternoon; Rin frowned rubbing a hand through his hair.

He sat up in his bed, his body didn’t ache anymore and the fever he was suffering from seemed to have subsided. He sighed, pushing himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. He still felt damp and sticky from his earlier fever sweats and decided to wash.

Grabbing some clean clothes and a towel he made his way to the bathroom and showered before staring at his reflection in the mirror. It was strange; he’d not looked at himself since the day it had happened. His tail was harder to avoid but he’d avoided looking at his face for fear of looking more demonic as time progressed. He stood there for a few moments examining his fangs and ears and any other facial features he thought might’ve changed. He swore his ears were poking out further than they had been but he couldn’t remember whether they were already like that or not. He’d not taken much of it in as he’d been too panicked at the time. But something had changed last night, he could feel it; he just didn’t know what.

He sighed as he turned from the mirror to finally get dressed; packing his dirty clothes into a bag in his room. He’d have to wash them when he got to his destination.

When he reached the kitchen, it was empty for all but his brother who was glaring at the table whilst fidgeting with his hands. Yukio looked up at Rin and his expression changed to one of relief.

“You’re finally up!”

“I-uh, yeah? Did I miss breakfast?” Rin looked apologetically at his brother; he nodded solemnly.

“Yeah, we waited for a while but you seemed to be sleeping like the dead. I came to wake you up but nothing worked. I was worried, you felt hot.”

“Yeah, I didn’t feel too good for some reason. I went back to sleep after my alarm.”

“Are you ok?” Yukio looked concerned but also like he was analysing Rin for his response.

Rin nodded “I’m fine, now. What time is it? How long did I sleep in?”

“It’s just after midday… your ride is already here so Dad and the others are entertaining whilst they waited for you. Here—” Yukio pushed a bento box towards Rin “—It’s leftovers from breakfast. Eat up before you go.”

“They’re here already?! Geez…I didn’t think I’d slept in that long.”

Rin sat down at the table with his brother and pulled the bento box towards him, grabbing the chopsticks on top. He felt horrible he’d missed his last breakfast with his family. Yukio suddenly stood up and walked to the door.

“I’ll go let dad know you’re awake.”

Rin nodded before he was left alone to sit in silence whilst eating his food. He could only hear the sounds of voices from down the hall. He was somewhat relieved to not have the ‘other’ voice calling to him for a change but at the same time, it was lonely. He remembered the last words spoken to him before the voice disappeared.

‘Break the seal’ it had said, but Rin didn’t know what that meant. Did it mean the sword; The seal on his demon heart? What would happen to him if the seal broke?

“Ah Rin, there you are.” Rin jerked his head up at Izumi’s voice “You okay?”

Rin nodded “Yeah, just thinking.” He said as he swallowed another mouthful of rice.

“I know this isn’t what any of us wanted, Rin. But you’ll be in good hands. And you’ll be joining Yukio at high school as well in a few months!”

“I guess.” Rin hadn’t felt too enthusiastic about his options of leaving school and finding a job being taken from him. Now being forced into not only high school but also a school for exorcists – taught by his father AND twin brother. Izumi left after saying they were ready for him whenever he was ready to go.

He forced down the last few mouthfuls of food before pushing the bento box away and going to grab his bags from the bedroom. He made one last scan of his room to make sure there was nothing he had forgotten. Grabbing his bags and his sword he left his shared room with Yukio for the last time.

* * *

Fujimoto and the others were stood outside the monastery waiting for Rin to join them. In front of them a tall demon, dressed in a dark purple pinstriped suit, was waiting by a large pink limousine. He was holding the door to the back seat open but the limousine itself was empty.

After a while, the main doors to the monastery opened and Rin emerged from the entrance, several bags in hand and the sword strapped over his shoulder. He gave a Rin-sized grin as he came out of the door. It was forced, Shiro could tell, Rin didn’t want his last day at home to be filled with anger or sorrow. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t see him again though and before long Rin would be starting his time at True Cross school. Hopefully, he would leave behind all the bad rumours and be able to make some friends.

Rin made the rounds of saying his goodbyes to everyone, receiving knuckles to his hair from Izumi and Kyodo. He hesitated when he reached Yukio but soon bit back a sob and pulled his brother in for a hug. When it was finally Shiro’s turn he pulled Rin into a tight hug, one that he didn’t want to end. Rin’s fingers dug into his uniform tightly as they held the embrace.

This was a good thing, Shiro had to tell himself. This was what was best for Rin, this would keep Rin safe and out of Satan’s sights. If Satan was using Shiro as a peephole then his distance would mean less chance of endangering his son. Yukio would also be out of harm’s way when he moved to True Cross but he was human. Yukio wasn’t in any danger compared to Rin.

The demon god’s silence in recent days had been a relief but worrying, it had been steadily getting more and more frequent as time went on. But went strangely silent when Rin had pulled the sword…or was it longer than that? Maybe he didn’t notice before or maybe it was a recent development but how long had the god of Gehenna actually been silent in his head.

Before he could think much more on it, Rin pulled away and said goodbye. Shiro followed him to the limo thanking the demon, Belial and taking over at the door. The demon moved to the front of the limo to get ready to drive away.

Shiro pulled a phone out of his pocket and passed it to Rin as he sat in the back seat somewhat distracted by the inside of the limo itself.

“Here, mine and Yukio’s numbers are stored. Ring me whenever you need something.”

Rin nodded and looked in awe, he’d never had a phone before – but was a little annoyed his brother had one before him. Shiro shut the car door and Rin rolled down the electric window poking his head out with one last smile and pulled Shiro in for another hug.

It wasn’t until Rin pulled away for the last time that Shiro saw them, a few white hairs on Rin’s head nestled neatly behind his pointed ear. He couldn’t help the dread that overcame him at that moment and the panicked look on his face as Rin turned back into the limo and it started to drive away from the monastery.

Shiro watched; not able to say a word. The car turned the corner at the end of the street and Rin poked his head out the window one last time with a wave.


End file.
